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New York state rejects gay marriage

New York state lawmakers voted against legalising gay marriage on Wednesday,
dashing gay rights activists' hopes that it would become the sixth US state to allow same-sex couples to wed.

AFP - New York's state assembly on Wednesday rejected by a hefty margin a bill that would legalize same-sex weddings in the latest setback across the country for the gay rights lobby.

The state Senate voted 38 to 24 against the bill.

The bill had the strong backing of New York's politically embattled Democratic governor, David Paterson, and had passed in the lower house of the state assembly in May.

Paterson reacted strongly to the defeat, saying that legislators had been pressured to vote against their instincts and that a new attempt would be made.

"Now we know who we have to talk to. We are going to quash the intimidation," Paterson said in a statement. "We are going to move this issue back to the floor of the Senate and we are going to have marriage equality in New York State and equal rights for everybody."

The issue is being raised in New York after voters in Maine voted in a referendum to overturn a gay marriage law passed by their state legislature in May.